InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with around 4 million members, has published its Expat Insider survey involving more than 12,000 respondents sharing their insights on living and working abroad and insights into expat life in 59 destinations.
The survey offers in-depth information on expats’ satisfaction with the quality of life, ease of settling in, working life, personal finance, and the cost of living in their respective country of residence.
Indonesia comes 31st out of 59 destinations in the Expat Insider 2021 survey.
The country lands as the 8th for the ease of settling in and 11th for the cost of living. While it also gets a fairly good result in the Personal Finance Index falling on the 17th spot, it performs poorly in the Working Abroad (47th) and Quality of Life (55th) Indices.
Overall, Taiwan, Mexico, and Costa Rica are the best expat destinations worldwide: all of them attract expats with their ease of settling in and good personal finances. The bottom three countries, Kuwait, Italy, and South Africa, all perform poorly in the Working Abroad Index. Additionally, Kuwait is the hardest country for expats to feel at home in, Italy is the worst for personal finances, and expats in South Africa do not feel safe.
Bottom Five for the Quality of Life
Indonesia receives its weakest results in the Quality of Life Index on the 55th spot, even ranking second to last, or 58th, in the Health and Well Being subcategory. Over one in three expats or 35 percent rate claims the affordability of healthcare in Indonesia poorly, and 44 percent are unhappy with the quality of medical care. An Italian expat says: “The healthcare system is not good and doesn’t appear to be improving.”
Indonesia also lands among the bottom 10 in the Travel & Transportation subcategory on the 53rd spot, with 45 percent of expats rating the transport infrastructure negatively, compared to only 15 percent globally.
The country also falls on the 53rd spot in the Quality of the Environment subcategory. For example, 50 percent of expats are dissatisfied with the water and sanitation infrastructure — a much higher share than the global average of 12 percent. “The sea gets dirtier and dirtier! All kind of rubbish fills in the rivers and goes to the sea,” complains a German expat. Despite all this, 80 percent of expats are generally happy with their life in Indonesia.
Friendly Population, Easy to Settle In
Indonesia ranks as the 8th destination in the Ease of Settling In Index, mostly due to the great results in the Friendliness (7th) and Finding Friends (8th) subcategories: 90 percent of expats rate the general friendliness of the population positively and 86 percent say the local people are generally friendly towards foreign residents.
Merely 44 percent of expats worldwide find it easy to make local friends, this is the case for 63 percent of respondents in Indonesia. Half the expats say their circle of friends and acquaintances includes a mix of locals and expats, and 29 percent are mostly friends with locals.
“It is a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and I feel welcome wherever I go. The locals are always helpful and open to sharing their experiences and lifestyles,” shared an American expat.
Dissatisfaction with the Local Economy
Indonesia ranks very poorly in the Working Abroad Index on the 47th spot, with 39 percent of expats rating the state of the local economy negatively — 20 percentage points more than the global share. More than two in five are unhappy with the local career opportunities as well.
The most popular career paths in Indonesia are in education (16 percent), finance (11 percent), as well as manufacturing and engineering (11 percent). Less than half of the expats in Indonesia work full time, while 15 percent have a part-time job. On average, expats in Indonesia work longer hours than the global average: full-timers work 46.9 hours per week whereas globally is 43.2 hours, resulting in 61 percent of expats are satisfied with their working hours.
Also Read Top 10 Reasons to Live in Indonesia